Adam Benzine

Adam Benzine is a British filmmaker and journalist. He received critical appraisal and widespread acclaim[1] for his HBO documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah,[2] which examined the life and work of French director Claude Lanzmann.[3] The film earned Benzine an Oscar nomination in the Best Documentary (Short Subject) category at the 88th Academy Awards,[4] in addition to nominations from the Grierson Awards, the Canadian Screen Awards, the IDA Documentary Awards, the Banff Rockie Awards and the Cinema Eye Honors.

The documentary took four years to complete.[5] Benzine's interview with Lanzmann was Lanzmann's first since 1985, the year Shoah was finished.[6][7]

Benzine currently serves as the Canadian Bureau Chief for British news publisher C21 Media, before which he served as Associate Editor for Canadian non-fiction news publisher Realscreen. Prior to his career in film, he studied BSc Multimedia Technology & Design at Brunel University London[8] and MA Magazine Journalism at City University London[9] before working as Online Editor for British weekly trade newspaper Music Week.

An Op-ed Benzine published in the National Post, in September 2019, compared the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) with the Venice Film Festival.[10] Benzine quoted Kiva Reardon, at TIFF, who disputed Venice's festival's director, Alberta Barbera's claim that the reason he hadn't scheduled more films from female directors was that they just weren't making enough good films.

In 2020, he made the documentary The Curve, which is about America's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was released on the internet a week before the 2020 United States presidential election.[11]

References

1. Knelman, Martin (28 April 2015). "The man behind Shoah gets his close-up". Toronto Star. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
2. Lederman, Marsha (17 April 2015). "Hot Docs 2015: What documentaries should you see at this year's fest?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
3. Wilner, Norman (22 April 2015). ">>> LANZMANN - NOW Toronto Magazine - Review ****". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
4. Johnson, Zach (14 January 2016). "Oscars 2016 Nominations: Complete List of Nominees". E! Online. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
5. Britta Lokting (18 January 2016). "Could Claude Lanzmann Documentary Win Surprise Oscar?". Forward magazine. Retrieved 13 January 2020. Benzine, who is British, began his career as a journalist after receiving a master's in magazine journalism from City University London in 2010.
6. "Oscar-nominated film has local connection with associate producer Kelsey Irvine". The Peterborough Examiner. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2020. The 40-minute film is about Lanzmann, the Parisian filmmaker who shot the seminal Holocaust documentary Shoah. Shoah was released in 1985, and Lanzmann, 90, hasn't given interviews since.
7. "Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah". D-Word. 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2020. In "Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah", the 90-year-old iconoclast opens up for the first time about the trials and tribulations he faced while creating his magnum opus, and the weight it left him carrying.
8. "Meet our alumni: Alumni profiles". Brunel University. Retrieved 13 January 2020. Adam has written for a variety of newspapers including The Globe, The Mail and The Independent.
9. Atkins, Nick. "XCity Award 2016 shortlist revealed: Adam Benzine". XCity - City University London. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
10. Adam Benzine (5 September 2019). "TIFF has a message for Venice: Do better by women filmmakers". National Post. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
11. Walsh, Barry (28 October 2020). "Adam Benzine's COVID-19 doc "The Curve" makes pre-election YouTube debut". Realscreen. Retrieved 30 October 2020.

External links

• Adam Benzine at IMDb